10. F-22 Raptor

9. B-1B Lancer

The B-1 makes up sixty percent of the Air Force's bomber fleet and runs $61,027 per flying hour.

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8. CV-22 Osprey

US Air Force

The USAF's special operations tiltrotor will run you $63,792 per hour.

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7. F-35A Lightning II

A 33rd Fighter Wing F-35A Lightning II taxies down the Duke Field flightline for the first time Aug. 6. The joint strike fighter’s first visit to the reserve base was to participate in a joint major accident response exercise between the 33rd FW, 919th Special Operations Wing and the 96th Test Wing.
US Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Sam King

Despite its ballooning development costs, the F-35 isn't as expensive to fly as one might think, at only $67,550 an hour. (And that fact is one of the airplane's selling points.)

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6. B-52 Stratofortress

Squeaking in just under the JSTARS cost, The B-52 BUFF (look it up) runs $70,388 per flying hour.

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5. E-8C Joint STARS

An E-8C Joint STARS from the 116th Air Control Wing, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., pulls away, May 1, 2012, after refueling from a KC-135 Stratotanker with the 459th Air Refueling Wing, Joint Base Andrews, Md.US Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jeremy Lock

The airborne battle platform costs $70,780 to keep flying. The E-8C Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System, or Joint STARS, is an airborne battle management, command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platform. Its primary mission is to provide theater ground and air commanders with ground surveillance to support attack operations and targeting that contributes to the delay, disruption and destruction of enemy forces.

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4. OC-135 Open Skies

US Air Force Senior Airman Kyle Kindig, left, and US Air Force Senior Airman Riley Neads, right, operate air cannons from deicing trucks to blow snow off of an OC-135 Open Skies aircraft Feb. 3 at Offutt Air Force Base Neb. Additional maintenance time is typically needed during winter operations to heat the aircraft and to remove snow and ice.US Air Force photo by Delanie Stafford

This plane was designed to keep tabs on the armed forces belonging to the 2002 signatories of the Open Skies Treaty, which was is designed to enhance mutual understanding and confidence by giving all participants, regardless of size, a direct role in gathering information about military forces and activities of concern to them. At $99,722 an hour, it's one expensive overwatch.

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3. C-5 Galaxy

Ground crews unload a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter from a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport aircraft at Bagram Airfield, in Parwan province, Afghanistan.US Army photo by 1st Lt. Henry Chan

The largest of the USAF cargo haulers, the C-5 can carry two Abrams tanks, ten armored fighting vehicles, a chinook helicopter, an F-16, or an A-10 and only costs $100,941 an hour to get the stuff to the fight.

1. E-4 Nightwatch

Who knew the President's mobile command post was an E-4? With all the latest and greatest gear to keep flying in the midst of all-out nuclear war and all its top secret countermeasures, it should come as no surprise that each of the Air Force's four converted 747s cost $159,529 per hour to fly.

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Honorable Mention: A-10 Thunderbolt II (aka “Warthog”)

US Air Force members troubleshoot an electronic error on an A-10 Thunderbolt II on April 25, 2007, on the flightline at Al Asad Air Base, Iraq.US Air Force